The Plot to Free Tonks
by LupinLover99
Summary: Tonks is a very busy mommy and Remus seeks to lighten her load a bit by planning a secret getaway.


**A/N: **This fic was written for a challenge on a wonderful little Remus/Tonks LiveJournal community called Metamorfic Moon. My prompts were a Day of Triumph, Legilimens, Mystery/Suspense -or- Angst.

**The Plot to Free Tonks**

Tonks was a busy mommy. A very, very busy mommy.

Not only was she busy, this whole business of caring for another human being was entirely new to her. She had taken care of Remus when he was ill or after he had been through a transformation but this was completely different. This was a whole day endeavor! Every hour, every day until he was eighteen.

Needless to say, she needed a day off. The hardest part was that she wouldn't allow herself to have one.

"Please be quiet," she pleaded. "How can you cry for this long? Don't your little baby lungs get tired?"

And Teddy still wailed. Tonks patted his back and watched his hair change from red to orange to purple to green, like it always did when he was upset.

"Well, at least tell me what's wrong. Give me some kind of sign here!" she said, setting Teddy down in his crib. "I've tried to let you take a nap, I've checked your diaper, you've already been fed...what else could it be?"

Sometimes she wished she could use Legilimens to see what it was her precious little son wanted. But, she wasn't entirely sure about the ethics of doing something like that so she was left to guessing.

Teddy continued to cry, tears running down his face and his fists bunched in little balls. What if it was something serious? What if she was too stupid to see the signs of some really serious baby disease? This thought plagued her day and night. But especially nights. Each morning this summer, Remus had woken up all alone in bed. Alarming thoughts crept to the forefront of his mind until he thought to go check the nursery. And there was Tonks, slumped over the edge of the crib, asleep and Teddy was standing up playing with her hair.

Remus urged her to get more sleep and stop worrying so much but he just didn't understand. This baby hadn't come out of his body! If it had, he'd want to keep it as safe as possible too. Oh, it wasn't that he didn't love his son as much Tonks did but Tonks' body kept giving her signals at three AM that Remus just didn't get. Teddy was her pride and joy and she didn't want anything to happen to him, so she just had to keep checking.

"Teddy, please, what is it?" she asked, picking him up again. Pacing, she patted his back gently, trying to sooth him. And then...her little boy passed gas.

Immediately Teddy stopped crying, he gave a little smile and laid his head on Tonks' chest.

Trapped gas...that's all it had been. Tonks let out a sigh of relief and cuddled Teddy closer. Just then, Remus entered the nursery.

"Good morning, Dora." he said, hugging her from behind and placing a kiss on Teddy's head.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Do you like having the summers off?"

"Mmm, just like having summer vacation again," he replied, stretching his arms out to either side.

Remus had taken a job as Professor after the defeat of Voldemort and was enjoying the ability to do what he liked with his summers. Tonks liked it too, it meant having an extra hand around the house. And, of course, it was always nice to have Remus around more often. She missed him during the school year.

Tonks lowered Teddy into his crib again and handed him his stuffed Pygmy Puff to play with. She turned around to face Remus.

"Now, give me a proper good morning kiss, Mister Lupin." she said. Remus grinned, wrapped his arms around her kissed her gently.

"That was nice," he said huskily. "We should see more of each other."

Tonks giggled, "We're married, silly."

"Yes," said Remus, letting go of her. "I sometimes forget that, I never see you!"

"Oh, don't exxagerate."

"I'm not exxagerating. You spend more time in the nursery than in your own bedroom"  
"Don't you raise your voice at me."

"I'm not raising my voice, Dora, I am merely stating the truth."

Tonks took a deep breath, remembering her vows. "Remus, I have to take care of the baby, you know that."

"Yes, but not twenty-four hours a day," he protested.

Tonks pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips. She stared at Remus for a moment but couldn't think of anything to say so she brushed past him to go make breakfast. ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈ The next day, it was Tonks' turn to wake up to an empty bed. She sat up sharply and looked around. Remus wasn't anywhere in the room. Was it possible he was in the nursery? He had better be, she suddenly realized that she had not woken up once that night to check on Teddy. She must have been too tired to be panicky.

"Remus?" she called, slipping out of bed and into her slippers.

Remus crept to the door and put a finger to his lips.

"What's going on?" Tonks asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Nothing, nothing, Teddy's sleeping."

"Oh. Is he all right? I forgot to check on him in the night," she began.

"I know, it's no big deal, Dora, he's fine. He started crying a few hours after we fell asleep and≈"

"What? He was crying? Is he all right?" asked Tonks, her mind racing.

Remus placed his fingertips on Tonks' lips, chuckling. "He's fine, Dora! He only needed to be changed. I took care of it."

"Oh, thank you." she said, wrapping her arms around Remus and hugging him tightly. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently.

"You're welcome. Now, take a shower, you've got to be off."

"What? Where am I going?"

"I can't tell you but your mother will be here any minute." replied Remus, pushing her towards the bathroom.

"My mother? What? Why?"

Remus made a motion as though he was zipping up his lips. "Sorry, can't say."

"But≈" began Tonks, but she didn't have time to finish as a pair of jeans hit her in the face. "Remus!"

"Just shower and get dressed!" he said, holding back laughter at the look on his wife's face.

iWhat on earth is he up to?/i Tonks wondered as she showered and decided on an outfit. She had not had to choose an outfit in quite a long time. She'd virtually been living in sweats and pajama pants. It felt odd to be pulling on jeans and picking out one of her Weird Sisters t-shirts. Odd, but comfortable.

She started out towards the kitchen but before she could get there, she heard a small whimper coming from the nursery. Her feet didn't even need a signal from her brain, they just started towards the sound.

"Oh no you don't," said Remus, intercepting Tonks and pushing her gently towards the kitchen instead. She sat down grumpily at the kitchen table and listened to see if Teddy cried anymore.

"Nymphadora!" said a voice from the living room.

Tonks couldn't help her spirits lifting at the sound of that voice. "Mum?"

Tonks got up from the kitchen table and started towards the living room until her feet stopped her and her brain played a mental tug of war between her mum and her baby. Finally she decided that Remus had a handle on what was happening in the nursery so she went to the living room where her mum was standing, wiping ashes off of her dress. She had obviously just stepped out of the fireplace.

"Mum," said Tonks, smiling fondly at Andromeda Tonks and rushing forward to hug her.

"How are you, dear?" Andromeda asked.

"Oh, just fine."

"You look tired," said Andromeda, holding her daughter at arms-length to survey her appearance.

"Well, a baby is a lot of work,"

"You've got a husband, you know. You don't have to do it all yourself."

"I know≈"

"Andromeda!" said Remus, who had just entered the room.

"Hello, Remus." said Andromeda, moving past her daughter to hug her son-in-law.

"How's Teddy?"

"He's just fine, I think he'd like to see his grandmum though."

"Oh! He's not sleeping, is he?"

"Not at the moment, no."

"I'll just go and take a look then, shall I?" With that, Andromeda bustled out of the room to see her grandson.

"All right, Remus, why is my mother here?"

"Hmm? I don't know what you're talking about." said Remus, smiling cheekily.

"Did you ask her here?" demanded Tonks.

"Certainly not. Perhaps she's just here to see Teddy."

Tonks narrowed her eyes at her husband who had his hands behind his back and was bobbing on the balls of his feet.

"What's your little scheme, Remus?" asked Tonks, finally.

"I haven't got a scheme, I don't know what you're talking about." said Remus but he was unable to keep the smile from his face.

Tonks smirked. "I'll figure out this little mystery, just you wait."

Remus waggled his eyebrows up and down. "We shall see."

Just before Tonks was about to pounce on Remus and tickle the truth out of him, Andromeda entered the room again. Tonks banished the thought from her mind as her mum would have been a bit disturbed to see the parents of that sweet little boy having a tickle fight.

"He's just darling,Tonks." she said, beaming just like a grandmother should. "You're so blessed."

"We know," replied Tonks, wrapping an arm around Remus' waist and hugging him close.

They stood there for a moment just looking at each other until Tonks said, "Is that...all you came for, mum?"

"Erm.." she looked at Remus who nodded his head almost imperceptibly. "Yes, just to take a peek at my darling grandson. It's been so long. You must have me for dinner sometime, Nymphadora."

Tonks' eyes seemed to be pemanently narrowed in Remus' direction. "Yes, we must. Goodbye, mum."

Andromeda hugged them both and stepped into the fireplace to head home.

"All right, what are you up to, iProfessor Lupin?/i"

Remus merely shrugged and dug his hands deep into his brown trouser pockets. He looked so adorable that Tonks didn't have the heart to interrogate him any further. She started towards the kitchen with the notion to make some breakfast.

"Er, darling," said Remus, causing Tonks to stop in her tracks and whirl around to look at him. "We've run out of eggs. Do you think you could run up to the market and pick some up?"

"Will you explode if we don't have eggs in the house?"

Remus chuckled. "Yes. No, really, Dora, I had my heart set on an omlette this morning. Could you just nip out and grab some?"

"I suppose..." said Tonks. She was about to inquire as to what his scheme was once again but before she could she found herself being pushing towards the door.

"Thanks so much, sweetie. See you when you get back."

"But, I≈" Tonks was cut off as the door shut behind her. She was left wondering how she'd suddenly gotten onto the porch. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders and set off towards the market. She'd get to the bottom of this mystery when she got home.

The only problem with this plan was that when she got back home, the door was locked. She stared at the door and checked the address to make sure she was at the right house. Just as she was about to get out her wand to tap the lock, Remus stepped out from the bushes next to the front door.

"Ah!" cried Tonks, dropping her wand and the bag of eggs. She grimaced as she noticed a sticky, wet something purveying her left shoe. "You scared me!"

Remus looked sheepish. "I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean to, really."

"Oh, yes, because I'm so used to my husband hiding in the bushes that this was sure to just be routine for me!" Tonks stooped to pick up her wand from the pavement and Remus stooped to dry off her sock with a simple spell. Tonks looked up and Remus peered up through his fringe to meet her eyes. Tonks' stomach squirmed like it hadn't since they had been dating.

"I only wanted to surprise you." Remus whispered, taking Tonks' hand in his own and kissing her knuckles.

"What do you mean?" asked Tonks, cocking her head to one side.

"Come on," he said, helping her up from her crouching position and leading her away from the house.

"But, the eggs≈"

"Leave them." said Remus. When they reached a spot in their backyard, Remus wrapped his arm tightly around Tonks' waist. "Hold on tightly, we're going to apparate."

"But, what about..." Tonks never got to say 'Teddy' because Remus promptly spun on the spot and they whirled away to an unknown destination. A few uncomfortable moments later, they landed on the edge of a wood that was adjacent to a muggle park.

"What about Teddy, Remus?" were the first words out of Tonks' mouth when she had gotten her breath back.

"He's with your mum."

Tonks furrowred her brow in confusion, "But, mum left."

"She came back while you were gone."

"Oh?"

"Yes, she is staying with Teddy while we have..." Remus paused and pointed his wand off in another direction and murmured, 'Accio picnic basket'. The basket came zooming towards Remus who caught it deftly and finished, "...a picnic!"

Tonks' jaw dropped and she stared in disbelief at Remus. "A picnic?"

"Yes," said Remus, smiling as he opened the basket and took out a blanket to lay on the grass. "Let's find a spot, shall we?"

Tonks was so surprised that she just allowed Remus to take her hand in his and lead her into the park. He finally laid out the blanket underneath a Weeping Willow that was situated on the edge of a calm, clear pond. It was a beautiful day and Tonks took a moment to breath in the fresh air and enjoy the sun on her face. She supposed it had been quite some time since she had been out of the house.

"Sit down," said Remus, who was already sitting.

Tonks plonked down on the blanket next to Remus and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, darling."

"Aren't you going to congratulate me?"

"For what?" said Tonks, giggling.

"I have triumphed in my quest to free the valient and courageous mother of her duties for one day."

Tonks smiled to herself and looked up at Remus. "Congratulations." she whispered and placed a kiss on his lips.


End file.
